Moustafa Abdelnasser is Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection Control at the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt and practices as a consultant in Infection Control at Al-Azhar University Hospitals. Professor Abdelnasser holds an MSc in Microbiology from the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Dundee, United Kingdom. Areas of research interests include the mechanisms of infection and immunity and the prevention and control of hospital-acquired infection, as well as the field of medical education. Previous appointments include serving as the head of the immunology laboratory, King Fahd Hospital, Medina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the position of locum consultant microbiologist and immunologist in the laboratory of King Fahd Military Hospital, Dahran, Saudi Arabia. Professor Abdelnasser acted as a consultant in infection control at Dar Elshefa Hospital for the Ministry of Health and Population from 2000 to 2008.

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Benedetta Allegranzi

Switzerland

Benedetta Allegranzi

Benedetta Allegranzi is a specialist in infectious diseases, tropical medicine, IPC and hospital epidemiology. She currently works at WHO Head Office, Service Delivery and Safety Department, as the coordinator and technical lead of the IPC Global Unit, including the “Clean Care is Safer Care” programme. Dr Allegranzi was awarded the title of Professor of Infectious Diseases in the official Italian professorship list and is Adjunct Professor attached to the Institute of Global Health at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland. She closely collaborates with the team at the IPC and WHO Collaborating Center on Patient Safety, University of Geneva Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland, as well as with the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, for clinical research projects. Dr Allegranzi is currently involved in the leadership on the WHO Ebola Response in the field of IPC and supervises IPC activities in Sierra Leone and Guinea. She has experience in clinical management of infectious diseases and tropical medicine, as well as in clinical research in healthcare settings in both developing and developed countries. Known for her thorough skills and experience in training and education, she is the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific publications, including articles published in high-profile medical journals such as Lancet, Lancet Infectious Diseases, New England Journal of Medicine, the WHO Bulletin and six book chapters.

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Apollo Basenero

Namibia

Apollo Basenero

Apollo Basenero is currently quality assurance technical advisor in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Namibia. He holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Makerere University, Uganda; a Fellowship in Quality in Health Care from the International Society for Quality in Health Care, Ireland and a Fellowship in Clinical Management of HIV Disease, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill, Cornell Medical College, USA. Dr Basenero has worked as an HIV physician/supervisor in various Namibian hospitals and a medical doctor in Uganda and Eritrea. He was the trial co-ordinator of the HIV Dementia Study at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Uganda, as well as the co-ordinator of a multidisciplinary forum looking at ART treatment failure. Dr Basenero has authored a number of abstracts, most notably one entitled Inadequacy of clinical and immunological criteria in identifying virologic failure of 1st line ART: The Ugandan Experience, which he presented at the International AIDS Society Conference in 2007 and for which he won the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le SIDA/International AIDS Society prize.

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Garry Blackwelder

USA

Garry Blackwelder

Garry Blackwelder joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s International Research and Programs Branch as an Engineer/Architect with the Infection Control Team in 2010. After obtaining his undergraduate degree in Architecture from Georgia Tech and a number of years in private practice, he began a career with CDC in the Engineering Services Office where he received a Commission in the Public Health Service and a consulting position in the CID. Whilst working as an international laboratory design consultant for the Management, Development and Consultation Branch of CID, he also partook in MPH graduate work at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. During his tenure at CDC, responsibilities included the 20-year Master Plan for Facilities, acting as a project architect for several new buildings, authoring a number of innovative CDC facilities programs, such as the open space planning program, a lease/build construction methodology and a blanket contract for renovations. Instrumental in the design and building of smallpox laboratories at CDC and in Russia and having provided major input in laboratory designs in Jordan and Malawi, Mr Blackwelder has served as an Airborne Infection Control specialist in the Division of TB Elimination, Global TB Branch. He has traveled to over 30 countries around the world teaching the principals of airborne infection control and providing technical assistance in the evaluation and design of health care facilities for Airborne Infection Control and performed hundreds of facility assessments identifying opportunities to improve infection control.

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Michael Borg

Malta

Michael Borg

Michael Borg currently heads up the Department of Infection Prevention and Control at Mater Dei Hospital, Malta, where he chairs the Infection Control Committee as well as the hospital’s Antibiotic Team. After qualifying from the University of Malta Medical School, he pursued studies in Medical Microbiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and obtained an MSc from the University of London. On his return to Malta, he set up a denovo infection control infrastructure at St Luke’s Hospital. His achievements have been recognised in the award of a Diploma in Hospital Infection Control by accreditation of prior experiential learning from the University of London, as well as an invitation to Fellowship from the Royal College of Pathologists of the UK. Professor Borg also successfully read for a Ph.D. in Microbiology with the University of Malta, where he has been appointed Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. Chair of the National Antibiotic Committee Malta, he is also a member of various professional societies, including the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, the Healthcare Infection Society of the UK, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control of the USA and is a past Chair of the International Federation of Infection Control. Professor Borg takes part in several networks on antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic use and prevention of healthcare associated infections for the European Centre for Disease Control and has been invited to serve on expert advisory panels for this organisation. He is also the assistant editor for the Journal of Hospital Infection and editorial board member for Healthcare Infection Australia and the American Journal of Infection Control. Author and co-author of over 60 publications in the fields of infection control and antibiotic stewardship within international high impact journals, he has also contributed chapters to international textbooks and edited national guidelines in infection control, as well as antibiotic prescription. Research interests vary widely from epidemiology of resistance and antibiotic use to prevention of multi-resistant organisms in healthcare setting, with a recent strong focus on cultural drivers of healthcare behaviour and behaviour change strategies applicable to infection prevention and control.

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Christina Bradley

United Kingdom

Christina Bradley

Christina Bradley is a State Registered Biomedical Scientist and is the Laboratory Manager of the Hospital Infection Research Laboratory, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Ms Bradley has extensive experience in decontamination and has been involved with the testing of chemical disinfectants for use on the skin, environment and medical devices and decontamination equipment such as washer disinfectors for endoscopes. She is currently Chair of the Central Sterilising Club, the oldest decontamination professional society in the United Kingdom.

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Karen Brudney

USA

Karen Brudney

Karen Brudney is an infectious diseases physician who has worked in the fields of Tuberculosis and HIV throughout the world. Both a clinician and a public health expert, she has worked for the Ministry of Health in Nicaragua during the early eighties under the mentorship of the late Dr Karel Styblo of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and established the first short course anti-tuberculosis treatment program in Central America. Upon returning to New York City, Dr Brudney was key in blowing the whistle on the nosocomial spread of tuberculosis in hospitals and homeless shelters and formed part of a team working with the New York City Department of Health to address and control MDRTB outbreaks. She treated dozens of patients with MDRTB and learned concretely from her patients how difficult and unpleasant the treatment is. As a clinician, she led the HIV/AIDS clinic at Columbia University Medical Center for 20 years for poor and undocumented patients with AIDS, both before and after there were effective anti-retroviral treatments. Adherence to medications was and continues to be one of her specialties and through programs she established, using positive incentives as well as intensive ongoing counseling, adherence approached 100% in this population with so many social and economic obstacles. As a consultant for WHO evaluating TB programs in Latin America, she participated in a WHO led evaluation of the MDRTYB referral hospital for Eastern Europe in Riga, Latvia. During the past three years Dr Brudney has worked for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on nosocomial spread of tuberculosis and tuberculosis infection control. She has been part of a team running training courses in airborne infection control in Mumbai, where the biggest MDRTB epidemic has claimed so many lives and has worked in Southern Africa (Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia), evaluating airborne infection control work. Most recently, Dr Brudney has worked to support and strengthen health care worker surveillance for tuberculosis in African countries where so many health care workers have contracted and died from TB during the past decade.

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An Caluwaerts

Belgium

An Caluwaerts

An Caluwaerts has have been working on the implementation of IPC measures in low and middle income countries, such as Niger, Sierra Leone, Burundi, DRC, Mauretania, South Sudan, India, Afghanistan, Egypt and Haiti since 2009. Her main tasks are writing the guidelines and protocols regarding IPC for the health structures of MSF-OCB, as well as to ensure that they are implemented in all the facilities.

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Enrique Castro Sanchez

UK

Enrique Castro Sanchez

Enrique Castro Sanchez is currently combining an early career research fellowship exploring the increased participation of nurses in antimicrobial stewardship decision-making with a position as lead research nurse at the Health Protection Research Unit in AMR and HCAI. (A partnership between the Imperial College London, Public Health England, Cambridge University Veterinary School, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the Imperial College Health Partners, North West London Academic Health Science Network.) Dr Sanchez trained in nursing and management of nursing services in Spain before obtaining an MSc in Public Health. He received his PhD in nursing from the University of Alicante in 2015 and has broad clinical experience in tropical and infectious diseases including malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis, HIV and sexually transmitted infections. As national advisor for sexual health and HIV to the UK Royal College of Nursing he was tasked with developing a national HIV awareness campaign. His work as an advanced nurse practitioner (developing and evaluating new models of care for people living with HIV), has received national awards. Research grants include funding from the Florence Nightingale Foundation to study nurses’ decision-making with regard to antimicrobial use in Africa.

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Nizam Damani

United Kingdom

Nizam Damani

Nizam Damani is an honorary lecturer in Medical Microbiology at Queens University, Belfast, UK and senior consultant at the Global Infection Prevention and Control Unit at the World Health Organisation. He trained and worked in Karachi, Nairobi, London, Belfast and Geneva and is an internationally recognised expert in the field of IPC in healthcare facilities, both in low-middle and high income countries. Dr Damani was a member of the WHO core group of the 1st Global Patient Safety Challenge - ‘Clean Care is Safer Care’ and was the country co-ordinator for the WHO pilot site for the implementation of the Hand Hygiene programme. He has served on various project boards, working parties and steering groups, both at the national and international level including Northern Ireland Deptartment of Health, the European Union and WHO. A founder member of the Infection Control Society of Pakistan, Dr Damani was also a member of the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy National Working Party of Antibiotic Sensitivity and served as treasurer and Chair of the Membership Committee of the International Federation of Infection Control. Currently a member of the editorial board of ICAN, Dr Damani is often invited to present national and international meeings. He has published extensively in scientific peer reviewed journals and is the sole author of Information Resources in Infection Control (8th edition) and The Manual of Infection Prevention and Control (3rd edition), which has been published by Oxford University Press and translated in various languages.

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Sergey Eremin

Switzerland

Sergey Eremin

Sergey Eremin has been a member of the WHO AMR team since 2014. He is currently involved in developing the Global AMR Surveillance System (GLASS) and supporting countries in developing national action plans to combat AMR. Since his initial appointment as WHO Co-ordinator, Avian and Pandemic Influenza Project at the WHO Russian Federation Office, he has served as a Technical Officer, International Health Regulations and worked in the Infection Prevention and Control team at WHO Headquarters. As IPC team lead, Dr Eremin managed the IPC in Health Care Programme, providing technical support to preparedness, as well as response to outbreaks and other communicable disease crises. He co-ordinated the Global Infection Prevention and Control Network and has contributed to the development of IPC standards and tools, including major guidelines on IPC for pandemic- and epidemic-prone acute respiratory infections, as well as several guidelines on IPC for Ebola and MERS CoV. Prior to joining WHO, Dr Eremin headed sub-faculty on Continuing Education in Epidemiology and Parasitology and held a position of Associate Professor at the Department of Epidemiology, St Petersburg State Medical Academy, Russia. During this time he also co-ordinated national and international infection control projects in the Russian Federation, Central Asia, the Baltic Sea Region and several other countries.

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Beniam Feleke

Ethiopia

Beniam Feleke

Beniam Feleke is an internal medicine specialist. He received his medical degree from the University of Gondar, Ethiopia whereafter he worked as a general practitioner in Asosa Hospital, Asosa and the Black Lion and St Peter’s referral hospitals in Addis Ababa. After completing his post graduate studies in Internal Medicine at Addis Ababa University Medical Faculty, he returned to St Peter’s specialised TB hospital, working as a clinician handling consultations and referral cases including TB, TB/HIV and MDR-TB cases and conducted training, teaching and research activities. Dr Feleke joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as senior TB/HIV public health specialist in 2006. His current role includes overseeing TB/HIV program implementation. Dr Feleke has published a number of TB/HIV related operational research and program evaluation findings in international journals and has made oral and poster presentations at various international conferences.

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Fabrice Fotso

Senegal

Fabrice Fotso

Fabrice Fotso is a water, sanitation and hygiene professional with experience in governmental, private and international organisations such as Doctors Without Borders, International Federation of Red Cross, the Red Crescent Society and UNICEF. He has worked in the fields of emergency and early recovery and development, including areas such as nutritional, obstetric and neonatal, Cholera, IDP and government capacity strengthening programmes. Currently a WASH Global Health Specialist working with UNICEF, Mr Fotso is based at the West and Central Africa Regional Office and co-ordinates the WASH in Health Action Plan, together with WHO and other partners. He holds a Bachelor in Civil Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, a Project Management Certificate from Stanford University and a Master of Science in Water and Environmental Management from Loughborough University.

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Bruce Gamage

Canada

Bruce Gamage

Bruce Gamage is currently manager of the Provincial Infection Control Network of British Columbia, Canada, a programme under the Provincial Health Services Authority. Past president of Infection Prevention and Control Canada, he has a background in both critical care nursing and microbiology. Mr Gamage began his nursing career in the leukaemia/BMT unit at Vancouver General Hospital, before changing direction to focus on the field of infection prevention and control. His areas of interest are improving infection prevention and control practice in all healthcare settings, with a particular emphasis on using surveillance for healthcare-associated infections to inform healthcare policy.

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May Gamar Elanbya

Sudan

May Gamar Elanbya

Former head of the infection control program at the Federal Ministry of Health, Sudan, for more than 8 years, Dr May Gamar Elanbya established the infection control program in Sudan and is committed to change the concept and behavior in Sudanese hospitals towards better implementation of infection control. A graduate of the University of Khartoum Dental College, she specialised in infection control and health care quality and holds an MD degree in Dental Public Health and a Diploma in Global Strategy for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Control from Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France. Dr Gamar Elanbya works in collaboration with the WHO for the “Clean Care is Safer Care” program and led the Sudanese Hand Hygiene campaign. She has represented Sudan at many international meetings and contributed to many published papers related to infection control . Currently appointed as Assistant Professor at the Dental College at the Taibah University, Saudi Arabia, Dr Gamar Elanbya teaches dental public health and quality and infection control. She has received a Global Program Management and Leadership certificate from the University of Washington, USA.

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Molla Godif

Ethiopia

Molla Godif

Molla Godif holds a bachelor degree in Environmental Health from Haromaya University and master’s degree, Public Health, Biostatics and Epidemiology from Mekele University. He has been working in the healthcare sector in various capacities since 2006 and as an integrated disease surveillance and response expert for approximately five years in the Ethiopian government regional health bureau, where he has been responsible for coordinating the overall activities. In this role he has contributed significantly in reducing and controlling the burden of many infectious diseases. Currently he is assigned to the Ministry of Health, Ethiopia, as National Coordinator and is responsible for Infection Prevention and Patient Safety (IPPS) and a new initiative which is called Clean and Safe Health Care Facilities (CASH). Further to the IPPS/CASH initiatives he is also responsible for health service quality activities.

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Bruce Gordon

Switzerland

Bruce Gordon

Bruce Gordon is the Coordinator of Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health at the World Health Organisation. He oversees a global portfolio of water and health-related work, ranging from development of norms on drinking-water and wastewater/sanitation, to global monitoring of access to WASH and burden of disease. Prior to joining the WASH unit at WHO in 2004, he contributed to the Organisation’s work on sustainable development, with a focus on children's health and environment. He has an academic background in biochemistry and environmental management.

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Ravathi Gunturu

Kenya

Ravathi Gunturu

Revathi Gunturu is Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi and a visiting faculty member at the University of Nairobi and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology. Professor Gunturu has 25 years of professional experience, having worked in the Cytology Research Centre at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi and at the Department of Microbiology, University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, before moving to Kenya. Whilst a faculty member of the Department of Medical Microbiology at the College of Health Sciences, Nairobi, Professor Gunturu also headed the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the Kenyatta National Hospital for 5 years. She is a visiting scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute where she is co-investigator in 3 research projects. Professor Revathi has supervised 50 post graduate thesis projects throughout her career and published 70 papers in peer reviewed journals. A member of several national and international professional bodies such as ISID, ESCMID, KACP, APECSA, and KMA, she serves on various National committees including KAPTLD, the Technical Advisory Committee for the National Program for Tuberculosis and Leprosy, the National Committee on Infection Prevention and Control, the Kenyan National Committee for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Research Program (IPDRPC), the Kenyan National Working Group for Clinical Management and Referral Guidelines of the Ministry of Medical Services. Professor Gunturu is the current chairperson of IPNET Kenya, a multidisciplinary registered organisation of health care professionals that advocates for raising standards of education as the most important tool of infection prevention and control.

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Boniface Hakizimana

Rwanda

Boniface Hakizimana

Boniface Hakizimana is an IPC Expert and has been Head of the IPC Department at Butare University Teaching Hospital, Rwanda since 2006. He has a keen research interest in the field of Infection Prevention and Control, most specifically in the areas of healthcare environmental management; sterile service departments; cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation of medical devices; multimodal improvement strategy for hand hygiene and HAI/AMR. Mr Hakizimana has been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) as an IPC expert to support setting up comprehensive IPC programmes in African countries. The programme focusses on both French and English speaking countries with the aim to establish IPC structures at all levels, as well as mentorship and coaching to IPC practitioners on the implementation of key IPC projects. Countries within which he has been instrumental in rolling out WHO IPC programmes include Togo, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger and Sierra Leone. He serves as an Infection Control African Network (ICAN) Board Member, Scientific Committee member and the Lead of Sterile Service – ICAN Survey.

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Joost Hopman

Netherlands | South Africa

Joost Hopman

Joost Hopman is a consultant microbiologist and Head of the Infection Control Unit, Radboud University Hospital, Nijmegen and the Pantein Hospital Boxmeer, Netherlands. Strongly committed to improving infection control in the Netherlands and in low/middle income countries, his main focus is on the role of the environment as a potential source of microorganisms. Since 2013 he has been lecturing IPC in South Africa at the University of Stellenbosch, where he was appointment as a senior lecturer in community health in 2015. Dr Hopman also acts as an IPC advisor for Doctors without Borders, with a recent mission in Haiti. In a recently published paper Dr Hopman compared the contamination of beds and the effect of automated cleaning, studying both settings in the Netherlands and South Africa, noting that reducing environmental contamination in low resource settings can strongly contribute to the reduction of hospital associated infections in those settings. In 2014 he acted as a national coordinator of the Dutch Society of Medical Microbiology in the response to the contaminated heater-cooler units with Mycobacterium Chimaera in the Netherlands. During the course of 2014 and 2015 Dr Hopman worked on a part-time basis as an IPC consultant for WHO in the Ebola outbreak response in Geneva and Sierra Leone. In 2016 he was elected as one of the International SHEA ambassadors.

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Pierre Kariyo

Gabon

Pierre Kariyo

Pierre Claver Kariyo is a medical doctor specialising in Paediatrics and Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Prevention, working for WHO in Central Africa. Dr Kariyo has been working within health systems strengthening teams in inter-country support teams, for Eastern and Southern Africa and currently in Central Africa. His area of expertise covers support to countries to develop policy and strategies to improve health services delivery, particularly patient safety, (including IPC) and quality of healthcare. During the Ebola outbreak he was deployed to Guinea to support development of policies and strategies to improve IPC in health settings.

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Getachew Kassa

Ethiopia

Getachew Kassa

Getachew Kassa served as technical director, Bethzatha Diagnostic Health Services, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia before being appointed as IPC/M&E advisor to ICAP in Sierra Leone. Dr Kassa is a public health specialist, focusing on research projects and public health works in third world-settings. With over 14 years of experience in national and international development as a programme manager, researcher, advisor and consultant, Dr Kassa has demonstrated practical experience in global health programmes, health safety management, infectious disease surveillance, evaluation of diagnostic technologies and public health policy development and implementation. Research project appointments include that of regional coordinator of the Occupational Blood Borne Pathogen Exposure Management Project in Selected Hospitals of Three African countries, (Tanzania, Botswana and Zambia), implemented by the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York and the CDC, Atlanta.

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Amy Kolwaite

USA

Amy Kolwaite

Amy Kolwaite is a nurse epidemiologist and a team lead in the International Infection Control Program, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia. Ms Kolwaite is part of a team that provides assistance to countries in the development and implementation of sustainable solutions to prevent and control healthcare associated infections internationally. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, Master of Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, followed by a Master of Public Health at University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. Thereafter she practiced as a Peadiatric Nurse Practitioner at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, where she specialized in Pediatric Critical Care and Emergency Medicine. She began her career at the CDC in 2010 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Field Assignments Branch, where she was assigned to the Kentucky Department for Public Health, Frankfort, Kentucky. She worked on monitoring and responding to communicable disease outbreaks and supported public health preparedness activities. From 2012–2013, she completed the CDC Preventive Medicine Fellowship on the global team in the Division of Viral Hepatitis, where she provided technical support to countries implementing viral hepatitis surveillance and prevention programs. Ms Kolwaite joined the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion’s international program in April, 2016. As a team lead, she supports countries to enhance infection control programs, implement surveillance for healthcare associated infections, build laboratory capacity to detect antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and optimize antimicrobial use through stewardship programs.

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Moussa Koulibaly

Guinea

Moussa Koulibaly

Moussa Koulibaly is currently president of the IPC committee of Ignace Deen Teaching Hospital, one of the three main hospitals in the Guinean capital, Conakry. Professor Koulibaly has also been vice-director of the hospital since 2011. He was formerly Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Conakry. He holds a Diploma in Anatomic Pathology from Pierre-Marie Curie University Paris VI, a Masters in Public Health from Paris VI University and a Certificate of Clinical Oncology from the Gustave-Roussy Institute at Paris XI University. Professor Koulibaly has spent 25 years running the Guinean Cancer Registry and has been associated with many projects on cancer research in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer. He was also actively involved in the Ebola outbreak in recent years. The strategy implemented at his hospital halted Ebola infection transmission among staff and led to significant improvements in IPC standards. He has received both the International Order of Academic Palm (2006) and the National Order of Merit (2008) for his contributions to education and research.

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Gabriel Levy Hara

Argentina

Gabriel Levy Hara

Gabriel Levy Hara is currently Chief of the Infectious Diseases Unit of Hospital Durand, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Universidad Maimónides, Buenos Aires, as well as Coordinator of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme of the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires. He is temporary advisor to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and Chair of the International Society of Chemotherapy’s (ISC) Antimicrobial Stewardship Working Group. After graduating from the University of Buenos Aires in 1985 and obtained his specialty degree in infectious diseases in 1989. During the last 20 years, Dr Levy Hara has worked in different hospitals and scientific societies, in the fields of antimicrobial stewardship and medical education on the rational use of antimicrobials. As Professor he has conducted several training initiatives on infectious diseases. Dr Levy Hara has also served as director of many distance learning courses for Latin American, (organised by PAHO and the Pan-American Infectious Diseases Association) and for African countries, (organised by the ISC and the Infection Control Africa Network), specifically related to rational use of antibiotics, antiretrovirals and pharmacovigilance.

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Ginny Lipke

USA

Ginny Lipke

Ginny Lipke is a Registered Nurse and holds a Masters in Healthcare Administration. She is a specialist in AIDS nursing and Infection Control, holding certifications in both fields. Her Bachelors of Science and MHA degrees allow her to work within the healthcare system to advocate for evidence-based policies and practices to improve patient outcomes and champion healthcare worker wellness programs. In the past, she has worked at a variety of medium to large multi-centered tertiary hospitals as the manager of Infection Control. She has served as content advisor for a number of infection control video’s and has spoken nationally and internationally on how to implement practical infection prevention strategies and operationalise safer work practices in developing countries. A consultant to WHO, KNCV and the International Lung Union against TB, she has published articles and posters on the measurement and sustainability of TBIC indicators over time. Her use of a color coded dashboard as a quick evaluation tool for large amounts of data, has been adopted and modified by WHO and others. For the past 7 years, she has worked for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on nosocomial spread of tuberculosis and tuberculosis infection control in PEPFAR supported countries. Ms Lipke is a valued member of the team providing training courses in airborne infection control and the evaluation of airborne infection control practices in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Botswana, Zambia, China and Central America, where the TB and MDR-TB is epidemic. Professional membership includes the Association for Professionals in Infection Control (APIC) since 1999 and in 2007 she was honored as one of APIC’s Healthcare Hero’s. She is a past President of the Atlanta chapter of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, national nursing honor society.

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Marcelyn Tsitsi Magwenzi

Zimbabwe

Marcelyn Tsitsi Magwenzi

Marcelyn Tsitsi Magwenzi has an MSc in Medical Microbiology from the University of Zimbabwe, a postgraduate diploma in Infection Control from Stellenbosch University and a certificate in Health Education Advanced Leadership Program for Zimbabwe - a course on curriculum development from which she won best poster prize for her project “Strengthening Infection Prevention and Control Training Programs at the University of Zimbabwe, College of Health Sciences”. She is Board member, Newsletter editor and Membership and Advocacy committee chairperson for the Infection Control Association of Zimbabw. Her work with ICAZ providing infection prevention and control (IPC) continuous medical education for local health professionals. Ms Magwenzi has taught IPC to undergraduate Medical, Nursing and Rehabilitation Students in the College of Health Sciences. Currently she works with the Zimbabwe Infection Prevention and Control Project (ZIPCOP) as a consultant in curriculum development, providing training and mentorship to various health care workers in Zimbabwe. In 2015 she was part of the ICAN team which provided IPC training to Sierra Leonean health workers during the Ebola outbreak. Her research interests include tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance and generating microbiological evidence for the improvement of IPC in patient care in the local environment.

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Mamunur Malik

Egypt

Mamunur Malik

Mamunur Malik is an Epidemiologist with the World Health Organisation based in Egypt.

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Anna Maruta

Zimbabwe

Anna Maruta

Anna Maruta is an experienced nurse with 24 years of demonstrated clinical and public health experience. She possesses significant pre- and in-service training/capacity building and is an Infection Prevention and Control Specialist. Currently she works as the Senior Infection Prevention and Control Training Co-ordinator for the Zimbabwe Infection Prevention and Control Project (ZIPCOP) at the Biomedical Research at Training Institute. The purpose of this project is to support the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) Zimbabwe in improving infection prevention and control practices in health care facilities nationwide to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases, including TB. Whilst working for the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Mrs Maruta served as a member of the Health Information Technical Working Group and also as a member of the National Procurement committee. She has attained good expertise in TB Infection Control and undergone extensive training as a TB Infection Control Consultant with KNCV including mentored field visits. Formerly appointed as a senior nursing officer for the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, where she was the Infection Prevention and Control Coordinator and the HIV workplace focal person, she assisted with formulating the hospital’s HIV Workplace Policy and the supervision and follow-up health workers on ART therapy. Other clinical experience includes working as a Sister in Charge in the main operating theaters at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, as well as extensive, hands-on experience gained through facilitating and conducting Infection Prevention and Control and TB Infection Control workshops. Mrs Maruta is currently the Interim Secretary of the Infection Control of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) and is also a co-opted member and assistant to the secretary of the Infection Control Africa Network (ICAN).

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Alethea Mashamba

Zimbabwe

Alethea Mashamba

Alethea Mashamba is a Zimbabwean Nurse Specialist with vast experience in training, program development and health systems strengthening and Infection Prevention and Control. Ms Mashamba has an MBA in Health Management, Diplomas in General Nursing, Midwifery and Community Nursing and Certificates in Infection Prevention and Control, Training of Trainers and Quality Assurance. She currently works for the Biomedical Research & Training Institute as an IPC Trainer and Health Management Specialist on the Zimbabwe Infection Prevention and Control Program (ZIPCOP). Her experiences in both developed and low income countries adds value to this Consortium that supports the Ministry of Health and Child Care in strengthening Infection Prevention and Control in Health Institutions throughout Zimbabwe. Ms Mashamba spearheaded the development of the National Infection Prevention and Control Policy, Strategic Plan & M&E (2015-2017) and she works with other ZIPCOP Team members to conduct site support visits to mentor trainees who have undergone basic training in IPC to assist them in implementing IPC programs, develop institutional plans that include TBIC and assist them in developing IPC related Standard Operating Procedures.

Prior to working with ZIPCOP, Ms Mashamba was working as an Independent Consultant for MSH, VSO, Compre Health, ZACH, Mother Of Peace and other Non Governmental Organizations where she successfully carried out training and capacity building, project evaluations and program management strengthening consultancies. Ms Mashamba has held various positions in the MOHCC where she rose through the ranks from being a Sister-in-charge, Community Health Nurse, Trainer of Village Health Workers to become the Provincial Nursing Officer for Manicaland Province. She has worked for the WHO Zimbabwe Country Office as a National Health Information Officer and Focal Person for Women and Health Development and for UNFPA where she worked on Youth Reproductive Health programs with Women Parliamentarians. Alethea is an active member of ICAZ and ICAN and has participated in local and regional conferences to share experiences on Infection and Control Program development.

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Wilson Mashange

Zimbabwe

Wilson Mashange

Wilson Mashange is a public health researcher with experience in health systems, biomedical, clinical and social sciences research. He has been involved in the coordination and supervision of research projects, mobilisation and recruitment of study participants, data collection, data analysis, report writing, dissemination of findings and other research uptake activities. Currently he is employed by the Biomedical Research and Training Institute as a monitoring and evaluation officer for the Zimbabwe Infection Prevention and Control Project, where he is responsible for data management. Mr Mashange has supervised and coordinated several national and multinational studies, the more recent include research for building pro-poor health systems during the recovery from crisis: an investigation into health financing, incentives for health workers and rural deployment and posting of human resources for health (2012-2015); a study of sexual minorities and HIV/AIDS in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe (2012); and the role of men in accessing PMTCT services (2011). He has also done rapid assessments and situational analyses for local NGOs, UNICEF and government ministries. Previously Mr Mashange worked for the National Institute of Health Research, Ministry of Health, Zimbabwe as a scientific research technician for 12 years. He has published scientific articles on health systems research and HIV.

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Stacey Mearns

UK / Sierra Leone

Stacey Mearns

Stacey Mearns studied medicine at the University of Birmingham and is a member of the UK Royal College of Physicians. She also holds a BSc in International Health from University College London, a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and a Masters in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. A former clinician, before moving full time into International Public Health, she has gained significant experience in managing international health programs and has been working in Sierra Leone on the Ebola response and recovery since October 2014. Initially working as an Ebola isolation unit doctor with King’s Health Partners, she joined the International Rescue Committee in January 2015. In her latest role as the Senior Coordinator of the Ebola Response Consortium, she has worked with 15 international NGO partners and led 6 nationwide programmes, including an IPC programme supporting 19 Government Hospitals, and 1,200 Peripheral Health Units across Sierra Leone.

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Ziad Memish

Saudi Arabia

Ziad Memish

Ziad Memish is currently senior consultant in infectious diseases and head of the research department at Prince Mohmaed Bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Other appointments include Professor at the College of Medicine in Alfaisal University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia; Adjunct Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Georgia, USA and Adjunct Professor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK. Professor Memish obtained his MD from the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada and is Board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Infectious Diseases, as well as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada, Edinburgh and London) and the American College of Physicians. He is widely recognised as a pioneer in Mass Gathering Medicine and Infection Control. Professor Memish established the WHO Collaborating Center for Mass Gathering Medicine in the Ministry of Health and the WHO Collaborating Center for Infection Control in the Saudi National Guard Health Affairs. First Deputy Minister of Health for Public Health, KSA (2009-2014) and a member of the Executive Council of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, he has presented many abstracts and plenary talks internationally and published more than 500 peer reviewed papers and book chapters. He is a recipient of the King Abdulaziz Medal from the First Degree, the highest national award in Saudi Arabia for achievements in the field of infectious diseases and infection control.

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Dilip Nathwani

UK

Dilip Nathwani

Dilip Nathwani is Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Honorary Professor of Infection at the University of Dundee. He is Chairman of the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group; Chair of the European Study Group on Antibiotic Policies and President of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Professor Nathwani is also co-Director of the Tayside Academic Health Sciences Partnership with an interest in education and quality improvement and the National Specialty Adviser for Infectious Diseases to the Scottish Government Health Department and Programme Director of the Global Antimicrobial Stewardship Massive online course. Having authored more than 225 peer-reviewed publications and contributed extensively to national and international infection guidelines, his research interests include developing and promoting best infection practice guidelines, anti-microbial stewardship, medical education, quality improvement in infection management, clinical and health economic outcomes in relation to new antibiotics, particularly those related to the treatment of serious and resistant pathogens such as MRSA and C.difficle.

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Fortune Ncube

Zimbabwe / UK

Fortune Ncube

Fortune Ncube is head of the Department of Blood-Borne Viruses (BBVs) and a consultant epidemiologist in Public Health England’s HIV/STI Department. His special interests are the epidemiology of BBVs, their prevention and management in the healthcare setting, and mother-to-child transmission of these viruses. He leads the Unlinked Anonymous Prevalence Monitoring Programme for people who inject drugs and is involved in the surveillance of significant occupational exposure of healthcare workers (HCWs) to BBVs. He also coordinates the National Antenatal Infections Screening Monitoring Programme.

He is medical secretary to the United Kingdom Advisory Panel on HCWs infected with BBVs. He develops, implements and monitors policy on the prevention of iatrogenic transmission of BBVs from infected HCWs. He is the PHE clinical and public health specialist on infection associated with body art, tattooing and body piercing and the complications thereof. He serves as a BBV specialist on a Europe-wide working group developing guidelines in tattooing. He is also a board member of Infection Control Africa Network, where he leads a collaboration with University College London’s NRIC programme.

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Linus Ndegwa

Kenya

Linus Ndegwa

Linus Ndegwa is the Program Manager, Infection Control and AMR focal person, DGHP, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-Kenya. Dr Ndegwa has a PhD (epidemiology) and is a clinician with over 20 years of clinical experience and of training healthcare personnel. He is currently leading the Infection control and AMR program at the Division of Global Health Protection, CDC, Kenya. Fields of special interest include epidemiology of healthcare associated infections and its drivers. He is the founder and leader of the Infection Prevention Network Kenya (IPNET-K) and Vice Chair of the Global Antibiotic Resistance Program. Dr Ndegwa is a board member of ICAN, an International Ambassador for SHEA and has served as a member of the SHEA external affairs committee. Currently Dr Ndegwa leads the national surveillance on healthcare associated infections and AMR surveillance for Kenya. A regular invited speaker to several international meetings on healthcare associated infections, Dr Linus has worked with a number of stakeholders in developed and low resourced countries to implement infection control activities. He was invited by AMRITA, India, to support develop the hand hygiene policy to address healthcare associated infection. He was awarded the CDC innovation award to evaluate an intervention of local production of alcohol based handrub. In 2012 he was involved in the national task force during the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa he assisted in developing key training and management material for Kenya and setting up the treatment centre at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi

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Awa Ndir

Senegal

Awa Ndir

Awa Ndir is an epidemiologist who works with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) through the Infection Control Africa Network (ICAN). She is a regional IPC and AMR advisor, providing technical assistance and coordinating activities in West and Central Africa. She is also a member of the ICAN board. She has been involved in numerous epidemiological and pharmacoeconomic studies. She previously worked with Institut Pasteur in Dakar as a programme manager for the Bacterial Infections and antibiotic-Resistant Diseases among Young children in low-income countries (BIRDY) project. She has also worked with the Senegalese Ministry of Health’s Infection Prevention and Control Programme.

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Babacar Ndoye

Senegal

Babacar Ndoye

Babacar Ndoye is an ICAN board member, based in Dakar, Senegal. A physician in the field of clinical microbiology, he is recently retired from a career as an expert consultant and trainer in hospital hygiene, infection control and patient safety. Having set up one of the first African national programmes on IPC, which he led for 10 years, Professor Ndoye is currently in the process of setting up a hygiene and infection control training programme in Senegal to be hosted by an institute of higher learning. Recently he has worked as a WHO and UNDP IPC expert on MERS-CoV investigation in Tunisia and on the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. A member of the IHR committee set up by the WHO to study lessons learned from the Ebola epidemic, Professor Ndoye has attended many workshops in Europe on capacity building in IPC. His other current professional activities include membership of the French Society of Hospital Hygiene and the editing committee of the French newspaper, HygièneS.

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Jean-Paul Ngandu

Namibia

Jean-Paul Ngandu

Jean-Paul Ngandu is currently owner and Managing Director of Health Star International Inc. IPC consultancy and an elected board member of ICAN. Having obtained a degree in anaesthesiology from the University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, he is currently working on his MSc in Infection Prevention and Control from the University of Stellenbosch. With over 25 years of professional experience, Mr Ngandu has served as a WHO consultant in IPC/patient safety on its Ebola Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. Between 2007 and 2012 he served as technical regional coordinator for medical injection safety and healthcare waste management at the University Research Corporation, a PEPFAR/USAID-funded programme in Namibia. During this time he pioneered the implementation of IPC best practice in Namibia with regard to injection safety and healthcare waste management programmes. He also lectures at pre and in-service health training institutions in that country.

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Peter Nthumba

Kenya

Peter Nthumba

Peter Nthumba is a consultant plastic, reconstructive and hand surgeon at AIC Kijabe Hospital, Kenya and the vice-president of the Surgical Society of Kenya. After graduating with an MB ChB from the University of Nairobi, he subsequently obtained a Master of Medicine in Surgery from the same university before accepting a Fellowship from COSECSA. Between 2006 and 2008, he underwent training in plastic and hand surgery at Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, thereafter completing a fellowship in reconstructive microsurgery in Valencia, Spain. Upon returning to AIC Kijabe Hospital, he developed its Plastic Reconstructive and Hand Unit. He was appointed Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in 2012, and is also Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Plastic Surgery at the College of Medicine Chattanooga and Ohio State University, USA. The principal investigator of the Surgical Site Infection Study, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and the University Hospitals of Geneva, he is also a member of OASIS Global, an NGO committed to bringing affordable and effective infection control practices to low- and middle-income countries.

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Bethrand Odume

Nigeria

Bethrand Odume

Bethrand Odume is senior programme specialist - TB/HIV treatment and care with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nigeria. For the past 12 years he has been actively involved in TB and TB/HIV public health programmes in Nigeria, working with the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, where he initiated the implementation of public private partnerships in TB control and led other key TB and TB/HIV interventions in the country, before joining the CDC. Dr Odume was recently honored by the Center for Global Health, CDC Atlanta, for ‘excellence in public health protection’ in recognition of his significant contributions to protecting public health. He has published numerous articles on TB and TB/HIV and given presentations at both national and international conferences. Dr Odume is currently concluding some evaluations of PEPFAR’s TB/HIV programme in Nigeria while providing key support to PEPFAR’s implementing partners in the scale up of the TB BASICS (Building And Strengthening TB Infection Control Strategy) project and implementation of innovative TB/HIV referral coordination activities across supported high-volume ART sites.

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Folasade Ogunsola

Nigeria

Folasade Ogunsola

Folasade Ogunsola is a clinical microbiologist and the current Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. She obtained her Medical degree from the University of Ife in Nigeria in 1982 and a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology from the College of Medicine, University of Wales, Cardiff. She is a fellow of both the National Postgraduate Medical College (Faculty of Pathology and the West African College of Physicians (Laboratory Medicine). Professor Ogunsola has contributed significantly in raising awareness of infection Control in Nigeria. She was a founding board member of the Nigerian Infection Control Association in 1998 and has assisted in setting up infection control programs in a number of institutions. A member of the WHO technical working group on Infection Prevention and Control and a member of the WHO AFRO regional rapid response group of experts for epidemics, she was the team lead for Infection Prevention and Control in Nigeria for the National response to Ebola. Professor Ogunsola has worked on a number of International research grants and is presently the principal Investigator of the NIH funded Grant BRAINS (Building Research and Innovation in Nigeria’s Science). She is interested in the community applications of infection control principles and has worked extensively in slums promoting infection control principles to reduce the transmission of infections including HIV. She the current chairman of the Nigerian Infection Control Association and is on the board of the Infection Control African network (ICAN). The recipient of a number of national and international awards, she has over 90 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

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Benjamin Park

USA

Benjamin Park

Benjamin Park, is the Chief of the International Infection Control Program in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia. Dr Park leads a team that provides assistance to countries in the development and implementation of sustainable solutions to prevent and control healthcare associated infections internationally. He received his bachelor's degree at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire and his MD at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, before completing his clinical residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He began his career at the CDC in 2002 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Mycotic Diseases Branch, where he worked on monitoring and responding to fungal diseases domestically and globally, including serving as one of the leads in the large multi-state fungal meningitis outbreak related to a contaminated compounded medication in 2012. He was awarded the 2013 CDC Shepherd award for outstanding scientific publication and was a finalist for the 2013 Samuel Heyman Service to America Award. In 2014 he began leading the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion’s international program. During the 2014-15 CDC Ebola response he coordinated CDC infection control efforts across the affected countries.

Ossama Rasslan is Professor of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Infection Control and the current ICAN Vice Chair. Among his many achievements, he is founder and President of the Egyptian Society of Infection Control, founder and Head of the Infectious Diseases Research and Infection Control Unit (IDRICU), Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine, Cairo, founder and Director, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Network for Infection Control (EMRNIC) and founder and President, Egyptian Patient Safety Association (EPSA). Professor Rasslan has designed and instructed on several professional qualifications in infection control. From 2003 to 2010 he served as a board member of the International Federation of Infection Control (IFIC) and between 2001 and 2011 he was the national coordinator of polio containment in Egypt. During the same period, he was also a member of the Technical Advisory Group for Polio Eradication in Egypt (EMRO/WHO). Professor Rasslan is the editor of the Egyptian Journal of Medical Laboratory Sciences, the official journal of the Egyptian Society for Infection Control and a member of the Annual Conference Committee of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), USA.

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Valerie Robertson

Zimbabwe

Valerie Robertson

Valerie Robertson has a BSc, PhD in Microbiology, London and is Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, where she teaches Bacteriology and Mycology in undergraduate and post graduate programmes. Her research interests cover antimicrobial resistance, opportunistic fungal infections and infection prevention and control. Professor Robertson’s experience and skills as a microbiologist and educator have been used in the support of laboratory services and the development of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programmes in Zimbabwe since the 1990’s . The main focus of her laboratory involvement has been to introduce quality management systems and to expand laboratory testing capacity. She was a member of the DART trial team investigating “Routine versus clinically driven laboratory monitoring of HIV antiretroviral therapy in Africa”. She is currently an ISO and Microbiology Consultant for a clinical trials support laboratory and Director of the Zimbabwe Infection Prevention and Control Project. Professor Robertson is President of the Infection Control Association of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) and Secretary of the Infection Control Africa Network and chairs the Scientific Committee for the 6th ICAN conference.

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Sanjeev Singh

India

Sanjeev Singh

Sanjeev Singh is a paediatrician by training and completed his Masters in Hospital Management and PhD in Hospital Management and Infection Control. He worked as a Regional Coordinator at WHO-India in a disease eradication program for some time before joining as Senior Medical Superintendent at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences University Teaching Hospital, Kochi, India. Professor Singh completed a fellowship on Healthcare Worker Safety, University of Virginia, USA and a fellowship, Health Technology Assessment from University of Adelaide, Australia. He is an Improvement Advisor at Institute of Healthcare Improvement, USA and an adjunct Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, India. Dr Singh is an Ambassador from India to Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and has been adjudged as “Heros of Infection Control” by Association of Professionals of Infection Control (APIC), US. He was member of Technical Committee at NABH and is presently the Co-Chairman of Research Committee at NABH. He is Chairman of Technical Committee at Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI). He is a member of Drug Safety Council, Govt of India and a member of Injection Safety Advisory Group, GOI, as well as an external consultant to WHO on regulatory and licensing policy issues. He is the recipient of several awards, including "Best Practices in Infection Control" by GOI and QCI in 2010, "QIMPRO Quality award" for 5 Lean Six Sigma implementation in 2012 and for “Outstanding Contribution in Healthcare”by ITP Publishing House, Dubai in 2015. He also received the Scroll of Honor for drafting the Indian State Antibiotic Policy in 2016.

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Joseph Solomkin

USA

Joseph Solomkin

Joseph Solomkin is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Surgery, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio, USA. Educated at Harvard College, Massachusetts, he studied medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. He obtained his surgical training at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minnesota. Professor Solomkin has published extensively on the mechanisms and management of surgical infection. He has been involved in the evaluation of a range of antimicrobial agents and in the development of guidelines for the selection of anti-infective agents for the treatment of surgical infections. Membership of several learned societies includes the American College of Surgeons, the Society for Critical Care Medicine, the American Society for Microbiology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Leukocyte Biology. Professor Solomkin is currently CEO of OASIS Global, a non-profit organisation working to lower the incidence of post-surgical infection in low and middle income countries. He is also chair of the Guideline Development Group for the WHO Guideline on the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection.

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Ndeye Fatou Sow

Guinea

Ndeye Fatou Sow

Ndeye Fatou Sow is a nurse specialising in infection prevention and control. She is highly qualified and has a Diploma in Global Health from the University of Paris, France and a Diploma of Tropical Medicine from the University of Paris 6, France as well as a Diploma for Hospital Hygiene from the Faculty of Medicine, University Poitiers, France. Ms Sow is currently studying for her Masters in quality assurance. She has 6 years experience of working in IPC at various hospitals.

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Abimbola Sowande

Nigeria

Abimbola Sowande

Abimbola Sowande is an action oriented public health physician whose goal is to improve public health interventions through prevention of medical transmission of HIV AIDS and promote maternal health and child survival. Dr Sowande is presently Country Director of AIDSFree Nigeria. Former appointments include Country Director of AIDSTAR - One Injection Safety Project, dealing with the prevention of medical transmission of HIV/AIDS and injection safety and healthcare waste management in Nigeria. She served as Senior Program Officer, Immunisation, for the BASICS II Project and Medical Director, Curative Services, Royal Healthcare Limited.

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Michael Tapper

USA

Michael Tapper

Michael Tapper is Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Lenox Hill Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine in New York, USA. Professor Tapper is a member of the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) which reviewed and edited the CDC’s guidance documents on the care of suspect and confirmed Ebola patients in the United States. He also served as a member of the select advisory group of the New York City Department of Health appointed by New York Mayor, Bill De Blasio, to advise the Health Department on infection control challenges associated with the return of an Ebola infected physician from Liberia to New York City.

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Anne Tilston-Easterway

UK

Anne Tilston-Easterway

Anne Tilston-Eastaway is a retired Consultant Microbiologist. She worked for over 20 years as a Consultant in Microbiology and Infection Prevention Control for NHS Scotland at hospital, health board and national level. During her career Dr Tilston-Eastaway has established an infection prevention control service at one hospital and introduced surveillance and reporting of healthcare associated infections, incident reporting of infection prevention control lapses and the use of this information to support a risk management approach to reducing Healthcare Associated Infection in the Health Board where she was based. She spent 5 years as Medical Director at the second largest District General Hospital in Scotland, giving her an insight into the importance of and how to engage senior managers and policy makers in the implementation of infection prevention and control measures. The last seven years of her career were spent at Health Protection Scotland, the National Public Health unit. In 2015 Dr Tilston-Eastaway spent time in Sierra Leone as part of the International Ebola response, initially as one of the ICAN tutors and subsequently with WHO, firstly as an IPC officer in Western Area District and then as National Lead for WHO IPC.

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Manty Turay

Sierra Leone

Manty Turay

Manty Turay is a teaching, advocacy and development practitioner based in Sierra Leone and has worked in education for over 20 years. During this period, she taught at various levels of the school system and later as supervisor of schools in her region. Ms Turay holds a Teachers’ Certificate, Higher Teachers’ Certificate and a Bachelor of Education and is currently working on her Master’s in Sustainable Development. She has facilitated various teacher in-service training programmes and was instrumental in the pioneering effort to establish the FAWE Sierra Leone Chapter, Port Loko District Branch of which she is an active member, having served as assistant national secretary and president in the Port Loko District. As a strong believer in the pursuit of women’s academic excellence, she is a member of the Sierra Leone Association of University Women and the 50/50 Group, an advocacy group seeking the empowerment and mainstreaming of women in all spheres of public life in Sierra Leone. Her current work involves assisting the National Electoral Commission, Sierra Leone, to strengthen voter education for effective participation in the election process. She has participated in numerous research activities as enumerator, supervisor and coordinator.

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Martine van Utterbeeck

Lesotho / Belgium

Martine van Utterbeeck

Martine van Utterbeeck is an intensive care specialist and IPC consultant. Dr Van Utterbeeck currently combines IPC and AMS consultancy with clinical medical practice for Medecins Sans Frontieres. After qualifying in medicine at the University of Ghent, Belgium, she subsequently obtained a postgraduate qualification in tropical medicine and antibiotics and specialised in anaesthesia in the intensive care setting. After working as a consultant in the ICUs at the university hospitals in Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium, Dr Van Utterbeeck moved to Lesotho in 2012. She completed a short mission with MSF in the district hospital in Roma, before her appointment at Lesotho’s new referral hospital, Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital, Maseru to organise and run the first ICU in the country. As IPC is one of the main challenges in ICU and even more so in low- and middle-income countries, this became her passion and a second full-time job. Dr Van Utterbeeck successfully established an IPC and antibiotic stewardship programme in the hospital. In 2015 she participated in the Ebola outbreak response in Sierra Leone, first as an IPC consultant for the WHO and later as an ICAN tutor.

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Timothy Walsh

UK

Timothy Walsh

Timothy Walsh is Professor of Medical Microbiology and Antibiotic Resistance at Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, where he leads active research in antibiotic resistance. After obtaining a BSc in Applied Laboratory Science and a Post Graduate Diploma of Immunology/Microbiology at the University of Tasmania in Australia, Professor Walsh earned his PhD in Molecular Microbiology at the University of Bristol. He is currently in the process of obtaining his MRCPath (London) and DSc (Australia). A former Reader in Medical Microbiology at the University of Bristol, Professor Walsh held several postdoctoral research positions in London, UK. Professor Walsh is a member of the Australian Society of Microbiology, the Society for General Microbiology, United Kingdom, the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, (currently serving as Trustee and Director), the American Society of Microbiology and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. His research interests are focused on unusual mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and how they are mobilised into the clinical sector and spread once established. Author and presenter of over 400 papers, in particular on the characterization of β-lactamases within Gram-negative bacteria, Professor Welsh’s interests include designing and evaluating new antimicrobials, as well as blending molecular and clinical epidemiology in large scale studies in developing countries. His research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, European Union, British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, BBSRC, Merck and others. He is advisory on many EC steering groups and the WHO and is a consultant to the Chinese CDC.

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Anthony Wanyoro

Kenya

Anthony Wanyoro

Anthony Wanyoro holds a MMED in OBS/Gynae with extensive experience as a gynaecologist obstetrician in a resource constrained environment, in addition to having a PhD in epidemiology. Dr Wanyoro completed a collaborative study looking at the point prevalence of post Caesarean Section surgical site infections between Kenyatta University and OASIS Global, USA. He has been a key role player in the reduction of post CS SSI and has been involved in systemic reviews of surgical site infections in SSA, as well as in post CS SSI risks modelling. Passionate about the reduction of preventable maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity in Africa, Dr Wanyoro has assisted extensively in the implementation of policy change towards antibiotics use and prophylaxis following surgical operation and is currently looking at innovative ways of improving maternal and neonatal health. He is currently collaborating with UCSF and KEMRI as a Co PI in Preterm Birth Initiative EA. A senior lecturer in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Health Medicine Dr Wanyoro has published several peer review work in post-surgical SSIs. Immediate former Chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kenyatta University, Dr Wanyoro is presently Acting Director, Kenyatta University Hospital.

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Charles Wiysonge

Cameroon / South Africa

Charles Wiysonge

Charles Shey Wiysonge is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Deputy Director of the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care, Stellenbosch University, South Africa and a Chief Specialist Scientist at Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council. Former appointments include Manager of the Vaccines for Africa Initiative and Chief Research Officer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, Chief Research Officer at UNAIDS, Geneva and Deputy Director, National Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Cameroon. Professor Wiysonge was a member of the African Task Force on Immunisation (now known as the African Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group) from 2013 to 2015. He is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE); the SAGE Working Group on Ebola Vaccines and Vaccination; the SAGE Working Group on Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination and Broader Tetanus Control; the SAGE Methodology Group; the Evidence Based Recommendations Work Group; the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP); the Independent Review Committee of Gavi; The Vaccine Alliance; the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Working Group and the executive committee of the GREAT (Guideline‐driven, Research priorities, Evidence synthesis, Application of evidence, and Transfer of knowledge) Network. Professor Wiysonge conducts research on childhood immunisation, systematic reviews, and knowledge translation.